मेरा आजीवन कारावास / माझी जन्मठेप (स्वातंत्र्यवीर सावरकर - काले पानी का ऐतिहासिक संस्मरण)

You already know the political importance of the Andamans to India. These islands are to be the fortification line of India in the future, a base for her navy and air- force to guard her from foreign invasion. If the Hindu prisoners remain in occupation of these island their children will be Hindus by blood and social heritage it will be theirs, as coming generations, to guard this Island fortress of India." Stay here even if you are free That is the glorious future which awaits you all. Today you are fallen, outcast and condemned but this hen is a golden opportunity that you should not let go. Hence the few among you who aspire in India to attain a higher status, must stay here, in order to lead and guide you, and make you raise these islands to the status of a great colony and attach it to mother India. This is a service they owe to their motherland, for which they must make this sacrifice. This is a task which is indeed the fulfilment of a life time. Every land demands leaders who would stick to the spot and carry on propaganda, and who would work to realise the ideal. They spend themselves for the cause that it may fructify. Why can you not be the conquerers of Andamans for India in a similar manner?" I talked to them repeatedly in the same strain. I used almost the same words and language over and over again till all my former co-workers and colleagues came over to my side as the result of these private talks. They at last realised that to be sent back to India did not mean freedom for them. It was to be taken to prisons where they would lie under stricter confinement. Some of them caught from me the fervent spirit of nationalism and the sense of duty that went with it. Yet in order that the Government be compelled to give as many concessions as possible to them, I made all of them say to it that they would stay in the Andamans only under certain conditions or else they should be sent back straight to India. I wanted them to take up that position in their own interest. The authorities allowed us to hold meetings to express our opinion on the subject. Taking advantage of this facility I began to speak at these meetings to the fullest extent on Sanghatan and general politics of the country. If going to India means no freedom we prefer to stay here. In order to set an example to the rest I sent a petition to the Government of India that "if I was not to be set free on my stepping into India, I preferred to be kept back in the Andamans to serve my whole term of imprisonment. Only as I had finished ten years in the jail, for the rest of my time I should be allowed to settle in the Andamans as a free person with my family, or alone on a ticket granted for that purpose."